James Lloyd of London Underground has won this year’s Recruiter HR of the Year Award.
James has been at the forefront of initiatives aimed at attracting young people into the industry. The Recruiter HR of the Year Award is sponsored by Vital Rail.
James Lloyd was nominated for his hard work in attracting young people to the transport industry. He pioneered a series of Classroom to Boardroom events working with the Mayor’s Academies in London.
14-17 year olds undertook various transport challenges and presented their findings to a TfL panel – some of the answers were later adopted by the organisation. James also worked on the University Technical College project and set up the Rail Talent Community to tackle the growing problem of scarce skills in the industry.
As a result of his work students and young people have been
attracted into the industry enriching both London and TfL. During the London Olympics he was heavily involved as a travel ambassador at London Bridge station.
Important opportunity
Says Patricia Holgate, ‘The events James has spearheaded provide an incredibly important opportunity for developing confidence and capability in young people by giving them the opportunity to address work-based problems in a work environment which in turn provides evidence which young people can draw upon when applying for jobs and taking part in recruitment processes.
‘James’ event also provides an excellent insight into potential careers within rail for young people. Not only is this showing initiative to banish future scarce skills, but helps to represent those from less privileged backgrounds.’
‘It is all down to the training people and engineers I work with, ‘ said James modestly. ‘They inject passion into what they do. It’s they who do it and I’m very proud to be a part of that.’
Says Tom O’Connor, managing director of the Rail Media Group, ‘James Lloyd demonstrates what can be achieved using imagination and initiative. The railway industry is expanding rapidly and needs to recruit a whole new generation to carry it forward.
‘James is helping bring that about and we should all be grateful. His is a stand alone triumph and this award is hugely deserved. Well done.’
London Underground, part of TfL, runs trains on eleven different lines serving 270 stations. The network has over 408 km of railway, reaching into 28 London Boroughs.
The Recruiter HR of the Year Award is sponsored by Vital Rail
The company, which supplies skilled railway operatives across the whole spectrum of railway infrastructure, is a leader in tackling the skills shortage in the rail industry and developing HR strategies that retain and advance railway staff.
Vital Rail is part of the Vital Services Group and is a multi- disciplined rail support services company with its own PCL and POL accreditations. As a major supplier of track, underground, safety critical, security, technology, signalling, OLE and supervisory services to the majority of the UK’s national rail Infrastructure companies, Vital Rail has established a strong history of partnering agreements based on trust and commercial ompetitiveness.
With head offices in London and Manchester and a network of supporting facilities in Glasgow, York, Warwick and Swindon, Vital Rail has a strong record of delivering multi-disciplinary projects safely, on time and within budget.
Highly Commended
Andy Ridout of advance-TRS
Chris Darlow has known Andy Ridout for over 16 years. ‘Andy started out as a young Trainee Recruitment consultant at a large agency. There, he quickly worked his way up to director level where he specialised in signalling and remained the company’s top consultant for over fourteen years.
After countless recruitment campaigns for the majority of the UK’s rail organisations Andy finally took the big decision to set up his own international railway recruitment firm and in August 2011 launched advance-TRS.
After twelve months, a colossal amount of hard work and very long hours, advance-TRS is now recognised as expert in supplying the complete range of permanent and contract, blue and white collar staff throughout the industry and has grown from a two man band to employing twelve full time members of staff, this in the midst of a recession.
Ironman challenge
Despite a very hectic work schedule, Andy enjoys nothing more than spending time with his partner and three children who are the inspiration for his latest campaign. In August next year Andy will be attempting Norway’s ‘Xtreme Norseman’ Ironman, in the hope of raising £10,000 for
Railway Children.
Over the past five years I have worked closely with Andy on many staffing projects and can only praise his conduct, attention to detail honesty and integrity. He is someone who always goes out of his way to make himself available to anyone in need of his help or advice, a quality that he clearly expresses to his team, which reflects on their outstanding performance.’
To support Andy on his venture to help Railway Children go to: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ AndyRidout
Tubelines HR Team
Steve Norris spoke warmly of the Tube Lines Stratford HR Training Team. ‘This is a diverse team of trainers and administrative employees responsible for the delivery of safety critical training for all Tube Lines workers, TfL employees and external contractors and sub-contractors who work on the Underground and across the railway.
All in all, we have approximately 25,000 personnel pass through our doors on a yearly basis.
‘Over the last twelve months
we’ve gone through significant change with the implementation of a new online booking system to ensure our customers receive a 24- hour service and allow forward booking of courses up to three months in advance. This change has completely transformed our entire way of working.
‘Through the efforts of the whole team, they have ensured that the result is a simplified and improved service for booking training.
This has also helped to improve
the overall delegate experience on the day. They’ve done all this whilst adopting new responsibilities and delivering training and continued support to our customers in using the new system.
‘As a team they work well and support each other in their respective roles, have immense pride in the service and quality of training that they offer, and always deliver it with tremendous professionalism and enthusiasm.’
